[TowerTalk] Station Ground

[Frank Donovan]

Several posts in this thread made reference to the use of 
braided bonding straps in grounding systems.   One post
even provided photographs that showed his use of braid
in his station.   Braid should never be used for this purpose.

It's been well established in the professional EMC 
(electromagnetic compatibility) community that braid bonding 
straps are ineffective above 3 MHz and they not allowed 
for this purpose when their length exceeds a two inches.   
Wide braid straps as short as nine inches are useless at 10
MHz.  At 30 MHz, braid bonding straps are useless if 
their length exceeds two inches.

Effective bonding connections can be made with solid or 
stranded wire or copper straps, but never with braid.

As an aside, coaxial cables are effective because their
braid shields are under pressure from the outer jacket. 
If the outer jacket is removed or if water enters the cable, 
coaxial cable becomes very lossy

73!
Frank
W3LPL
donovanf at erols.com